A Fifteenth-Century Independent School
Towards the end of the 14th century a child was found abandoned beside the road leading to the tiny town of Sevenoaks. According to the custom he was named after the town. He grew up to become William Sevenoke, Mayor of London, Warden of the Grocers' Company, Warden of London Bridge and a friend of Henry V. In his will of 1432, he provided for the foundation of a grammar school and almshouses at his native Sevenoaks. The school is one of the three oldest lay foundations in England.
For centuries it remained small. Today, admitting boys and girls at 11, 13 and 16, Sevenoaks School has around 1000 pupils including nearly 350 boarders and occupies a 100 acres adjoining the 1000 acres of Knole. The buildings range in style from eighteenth-century Palladian to uncompromisingly contemporary.
Sevenoaks is an Independent School represented on the Headmasters' Conference and the Governing Bodies' Association.